UK can reap the benefits of Pacific alliance

The US Department of Justice is openly accusing Beijing of deploying hackers to target labs developing Covid-19 vaccines – and last week, two Chinese nationals, who allegedly spied on US research companies, were charged. And as the State Department chides the People’s Republic for “coercing our business leaders… interfering in domestic politics… and threatening Chinese Americans living in China”, Trump is this weekend warning that another of Beijing’s five US consulates “could soon close”.

Over several years now, the mood music between the two largest economies on earth has impacted global business sentiment, as relations between Trump and President Xi have run hot and cold. With each turning of the screw in the US-Chinese trade war, stock markets everywhere have plunged.

As the Covid lockdown lifts, though, revealing the extent of the economic damage, US-China relations are starting to look even more dangerous.

Pompeo now says “most” of China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea “are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them”. Certainly, the likes of Malaysia, the Philippines and, of course, Taiwan have felt threatened by Beijing’s recent belligerence.

So what should Britain do, as tensions escalate between our main military ally and the world’s emerging economic hegemon? The answer is to back the US strategically while keeping our commercial options open – and that means joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. CPTPP is a mouthful – one reason the mainstream media barely mentions it.

Yet it could play a huge role in shaping the economic future not just of Britain, but the world. Comprising 11 nations around “the Pacific Rim” – including Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Mexico and Peru – CPTPP is trade agreement between nations accounting for 13pc of global commerce. If Britain joined, that would make 16pc – more than the EU27. CPTPP is primed for growth.